Some 808 processing tips I've learned

[societyloser1]

[Trichome]

If you want an example of what I'm talking about slap schaack transient shaper onto a clean sub and turn the drive up a bit... You will see the levels going down (lets say 3db) in the mixer but the sub will sound more or less the same volume to your ears... So now I can turn the sub up 3db and make it sound louder than it was before, but using the same amount of headroom

It does remove a bit of the low frequency content, but being able to squeeze the volume out makes up for it... It's like an illusion with audio... It makes the sub sound fatter and louder when really it isnt

[Augment]

but that's not the sub being 'louder' that's the harmonics being added in, and the sub getting weaker

[Trichome]

Read the last paragraph... It's not actually getting louder but to your ears it sounds like it is... You don't really notice the harmonics being added when you are listening, hence why I called it an illusion with audio

You guys are thinking too deep anyway, just try it in a tune and you will see exactly what I am talking about

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[SunkLo]

Low frequencies require more volume to sound as loud as higher frequencies. Adding harmonics increases its presence, requiring a lower volume to be heard in the mix. You can also look at a square wave like a severely clipped sine. The waveform spends more time at the maximum and minimum than a sine. Peak values are the same but a square's RMS is higher.

[Augment]

the illusion yeah, but you cant transfer that illusion to a sub is my point. the sub is weaker, that is, if you dont listen on headphones, then the illusion will be useful yeah. With a proper sub you feel the difference, you dont 'listen' to a sub if you know what I mean

[Trichome]

I know what you mean, and I have a decent system so I know that it does sound weaker in terms of actual sub content, (although it's not like messing with your subs makes them sound noticeabley less chest rattling unless you overdo the processing, which I never do) but adding harmonics IMO just makes it sound much warmer, healthier and generally better most of the time, which is a fair trade off in most genres, although I would never use this in dubstep

You see where I'm coming from?

[Augment]

I know what you mean, and I have a decent system so I know that it does sound weaker in terms of actual sub content, (although it's not like messing with your subs makes them sound noticeabley less chest rattling unless you overdo the processing, which I never do) but adding harmonics IMO just makes it sound much warmer, healthier and generally better most of the time, which is a fair trade off in most genres, although I would never use this in dubstep

You see where I'm coming from?

Yeah totally, it just initially sounded like you got more power in the sub by processing a sine, and that's where I went 'wait wat'

[Trichome]

Yea I was kind of unclear, although I usually keep my actual sub pretty clean and just process the layer on top like I said

[SunkLo]

Distorting a sub doesn't somehow reduce the amount of low frequencies. It's an additive process. If you're reducing the sub to compensate there will be less power in that range obviously, but you should be able to make it up with all the extra headroom you save. It's a compromise either way.

[Trichome]

Distorting a sub doesn't somehow reduce the amount of low frequencies. It's an additive process. If you're reducing the sub to compensate there will be less power in that range obviously, but you should be able to make it up with all the extra headroom you save. It's a compromise either way.

I still have no fucking idea how the drive on schaack transient shaper works, how can it add harmonics but shave dBs off?
It's probably something really simple I'm not getting haha

[Augment]

Distorting a sub doesn't somehow reduce the amount of low frequencies. It's an additive process. If you're reducing the sub to compensate there will be less power in that range obviously, but you should be able to make it up with all the extra headroom you save. It's a compromise either way.

I still have no fucking idea how the drive on schaack transient shaper works, how can it add harmonics but shave dBs off?
It's probably something really simple I'm not getting haha

Well the drive is supposed to work as analogue saturation, so my guess is that it just limits the output along with the amount of saturation, by moving the threshold further down. So let's say the threshold for the saturation is 0db when the drive is totally on the left side, and -20db on the right side, it will clip the sound at -20db, thus adding harmonics, but decreasing db output. If that makes sense lol, im horrible with words

[Jizz]

Try reversing an 808 to get to 808 an reversing try

[titchbit]

Try reversing an 808 to get to 808 an reversing try

tru dat.

[itsHAZED]

I recently started using GoldBaby's Tape808 Samples, throwing a long 808 into Ableton's Sampler, EQing it and compressing it with a 4:1 ratio. Then I usually sidechain a short punchy kick into it, which is also EQ'd and compressed with a high ratio.

Is this the wrong way of doing it? It seems like it pounds pretty well.

Ideally I want my 808 to sound like this: https://soundcloud.com/simplify/kairo-k ... down-jesse

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Just want to make sure I'm doing things right, since everyone is talking about 808's anyways.